Fairmont

We had a lovely weekend at a friend's cabin in Fairmont, B.C. Rustle was able to join us this time, and SwimmingDog enjoyed himself immensely, especially at Columbia Lake (headwaters of the mighty Columbia River, no less!) I wonder how long it will take his hair to clog things up in Portland? Anyway, some photos...

Waiting on a friend

Alison is watching patiently for her teddy bear to finish his bath.

Update: Mooke's blog

For all her readers, Mooke has posted on her blog.

Stampede

We took Nana and Papa to the Calgary Stampede this year. It was our first ever visit to the Evening Show ("The BIG Show") that had fireworks and daredevil motorcycle riders and circus acts plus singing and dancing. It was really quite impressive.

The weather, however, was not impressive during the day, so we spent more time than usual indoors. We noticed the old stagecoach and the man at the exhibit told us to climb in. We prefer our car.


The ladies also got new cowboy hats. Not these ones, because they wouldn't keep out the rain!

Gold Medalists

The Provincial Tournament of Champions wrapped up today. Sarah's team played very well, never losing a game, but the tournament wasn't about winning. Seriously. They didn't track games won/lost/tied, didn't keep score, and two teams from our division that placed second and third last were invited because they represented small communities. Really took the wind out of our sails for the tournament.

They did give each girl one of these lovely gold medals that say "Alberta Soccer Association - Tournament of Champions." Very lovely. They even had one for the team manager...

Gold Medal!

Both girls played soccer this year. Alison played in the Under 10 recreational group and improved tremendously. Go Mookie!

Sarah played in the Under 12 Girls Competitive league on our community team. Her team, Hamptons Roma, had a ton of success this year. There are a few really skilled players, but mostly, they had a lot of success because they played as a team. Sarah played "sweeper" which is a defensive position - the last player before the goalie.

Today, Hamptons Roma beat the Okotoks Strikers 6-0 in an exciting game. This win gave them the gold medal in the Tier IV U-12 girls division and they are going to Provincials next weekend. Yippee!

I have video, but as I'm still having issues uploading it (I am also waiting to post Alison's skating and Sarah's grade 6 ceremony video...), here are a few screencaps of Sarah making a huge play in today's game.

Running to get the ball

Setting up for a big kick

Big wind up

Follow through

The ball sent flying away

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

Neighbourhood Fun

We are basking in some lovely weather right now, and since it could possibly be the best weather we get all summer, we are taking advantage. After dinner tonight, this is how the neighbourhood families (ok, us and our neighbours) spent their time...

Rustle gets a haircut

It's nearing summer time, and poor Rustle in his big fur coat has been sweating up a storm. We thought it would be kindest to get the boy a trim.

Here's the before picture:


Here he is now, in all his head-to-big-for-his-bald-body, resembling-a-lab glory:

Aladdin

I just loaded footage from the fabulous production of Aladdin presented by Banff Trail Elementary School. I am totally overwhelmed by how hard these kids and teachers worked. It was amazing.

Here are some quick screencaps from my video, still in the early editing stages!

Sarah in the chorus

Her friend Samantha played Princess Jasmine. Boy, can she sing!

This girl can act. She was fabulous as the parrot, Iago.


The genie
The ham